REAL PEOPLE, REAL ISSUES

59 posts categorized "NFL NEWS"

May 02, 2011

The Skinny: Do yourself a favor and buy a newspaper today and throw it in your closet. It will have more meaning 25 years from now than a screen grab of some blog aggregator. A slow weekend until Sunday night. Then media scrambled to cover the Bin Laden news. Then some media scrambled away as quickly as possible and back to entertainment programming. At the box office, "Fast Five" blows away the competition.

Racing to the top. Universal's "Fast Five" cruised to first place at the box office, taking in $83.6 million in the U.S. No, that's not a typo! Part of me wants to attribute the huge opening numbers to people going to see the car chase/heist flick as a goof on a weekend when there wasn't much else playing at the multiplex. If you think you had a bad prom, that was nothing compared to Disney's "Prom," which took in only $5 million in its opening weekend. The long-awaited sequel to "Hoodwinked" also flopped. Box office coverage from the Los Angeles Times, Variety and New York Times. Here's a summer preview from USA Today.

Hope they can carry a tune after all that. MTV is finally putting on "The Electric Barbarellas," a reality show about an all-female band that was championed by none other than Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone. The involvement of the almost 90 year-old Viacom chief in a show about an all-girl band was first broken by then-Daily Beast writer Peter Lauria, whose coverage of all this irritated Redstone to no end. Let's hope Lauria is having a good chuckle today. Details on the show from Variety.

NFL latest to push iPad access. The NFL Network, the league's cable channel that could be pretty dull if the labor dispute isn't solved by this summer, is talking with distributors about offering the network on iPads and other tablet devices. NFL Network is the latest programmer to want to put itself on iPads. The challenge is reworking deals with distributors so they don't risk losing subscribers. In other words, the cable guys have to be the gatekeeper to iPad access. More from the Wall Street Journal.

April 25, 2011

A federal judge gave professional football players a significant victory Monday, granting an injunction to stop the N.F.L.’s six-week-long lockout. The league planned to file a brief late Monday asking United States District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to stay her decision so that it does not have to open for business immediately.

If the stay is not granted by Nelson or the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the N.F.L. will have to put rules in place that would allow players to return to work and free agency to open within days, creating a flurry of activity that would mimic the normal operations of an off-season. Teams would be allowed to hold workouts with players, and players to meet with trainers to rehabilitate injuries and coaches to study game film.

But if a stay is granted, the N.F.L. will remain dormant while owners appeal Nelson’s decision. That would probably keep the N.F.L. shut down until at least mid-June and perhaps into early July, about a month before teams usually open training camps.

The league said Monday night that it did not intend to restart business until it had the opportunity to seek the stay, meaning teams will not try to sign or trade players. A final decision on the stay is likely to take no more than several days.

Jim Quinn, who argued the players’ case before Nelson, said Monday night that teams were theoretically allowed to sign free agents now, but that players had to give the N.F.L. time to let the dust settle. If it takes too long to begin signing players without a stay in place, owners could be subject to collusion charges, he said.

Ryan Clark, the player representative for the Pittsburgh Steelers, said in a text message Monday night that he was advising his teammates to report for work at the Steelers’ facilities Tuesday. CONTINUE READING..

March 13, 2011

On the day after the N.F.L.shut down with its first work stoppage in more than 20 years, the parallel tracks of its future

The planning for the legal battles ahead was under way Saturday — the N.F.L. added the high-profile lawyersDavid Boies and Paul Clement to the legal team that will fight the players’ antitrust suit. But the league’s competition committee, which sets the playing rules for the game, was meeting, a reminder that eventually, perhaps even on schedule, there will be football again.

How quickly the football season takes its normal shape will be determined, though, far from the playing field. The fights have moved to the courtroom. The owners announced Saturday that they would lock out the players, and the players have asked for an injunction to prevent that from happening.

The players also filed an antitrust suit against the N.F.L., with quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Brees among the plaintiffs. The N.F.L. is awaiting a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board on its claim that the union’s decision to dissolve itself Friday was a sham. The league also is expected to appeal the ruling that it improperly negotiated television contracts to guarantee payment during the lockout.

Decisions in any of these cases could swing leverage and perhaps drive the parties back to the negotiating table.

“This is no different than any other industry where the parties scare each other with lawsuits,” said Gabe Feldman, the director of the sports law program at Tulane UniversityLaw School. “There’s a lot of time between now and a true litigation Armageddon. They’re not fighting over a fundamental shift in the sport. It’s still just a dollars issue, and if you’re fighting over $500 million, that seems like a lot, but not relative to the $9 billion you’d be giving up by not playing,” he said, referring to the N.F.L.’s revenue last year.

John Mara, the Giants’ president, sat in on many negotiating sessions. “At some point we’ll probably be back in front of the mediator,” he said. “And we will have wasted a lot of time and a lot of money.”

Mara, like many others in the N.F.L., thinks it could take a while — probably months — for negotiations to resume while the various legal entanglements work their way through the system.

The impetus for both sides to resume talks — especially for players, who walked away from the negotiations deeply frustrated on Friday — may take weeks to present itself.

Players are convinced that owners had planned to lock them out ever since the owners opted out of the old collective bargaining agreement three years ago. But owners would certainly prefer to be negotiating now. They were so eager to avoid a court battle that during a Thursday afternoon conference call, owners gave Commissioner Roger Goodellpermission to do whatever he had to do to get a deal.

The offer the league said it made Friday would have given owners one-third the amount of additional revenue they had initially sought when negotiations began — or about $325 million extra each year.

One person briefed on the deal said some small-market owners even wondered how they would live with the deal that was left on the table, because they thought it had gone too far.

In the end, though, the sides were not close to a settlement. DeMaurice Smith, the head of the union, said that during negotiations, players had offered owners $550 million over four years — $137.5 million a year — without the demand for financial verification, still a gap of $200 million a year. They had not figured out a rookie compensation plan, had not yet settled on whether to eventually have an 18-game regular season, and had not yet agreed on how much money each side would allocate for retired players.

Owners were confounded that the union would not look at the additional financial information they offered last Monday — Smith said the union’s bankers told them it would be useless in helping to determine if owners needed more revenue — and owners took that as a signal that the union had already decided it could get a better deal in court.

But players’ positions had hardened in part by what they considered an indication that owners did not respect them: few owners were directly involved in negotiations, and on Thursday, players were particularly upset that they never negotiated face-to-face with the owners’ full labor committee.

“If you were to look at a timeline of all the negotiations in the past two years, the players were always there and always involved,” the players’ spokesman George Atallah said. “There’s no measure for their level of frustration.”

If players are granted the injunction by a federal judge in Minneapolis to block a lockout — the case is expected to be assigned to Judge David S. Doty this week, and nearly everyone expects the players to get the injunction — the off-season will suddenly look routine. CONTINUE READING

This was Green Bay’s fourth Super Bowl title. The Packers won the first two Super Bowls with Vince Lombardi coaching Bart Starr, and captured another with Brett Favre(notes) in January 1997.

The Steelers trailed 21-3 before halftime. Ben Roethlisberger(notes) got them within 28-25 midway through the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass and a nifty 2-point conversion. The Packers answered with a field goal, giving Roethlisberger one last chance.

Needing to go 87 yards in 1:59 with one timeout left, Roethlisberger couldn’t make it across midfield.

February 05, 2011

NFL Hall of Fame 2011: Hall of Fame Class of 2011 and Candidates - What gives more excitement and eagerness to watch the Super Bowl 2011 live stream tomorrow at Dallas Cowboys Stadium will also give the same treatment to the NFL Hall of Fame Class of 2011. And finally the Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors elected Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders, Richard Dent and Shannon Sharpe and NFL Films founder Ed Sabol to be included in the crème of the crop class of 2011.

Apparently, former Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin, a finalist for this year’s Hall of Fame class, was not selected for entry into Canton. He reportedly made the cut from 15 to 10, but did not make the next round of cuts from 10 to five Hall of Fame inductees.

Meanwhile, Faulk, the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1994, Offensive Player of the Year from 1999-2001 and league MVP in 2000, was an impact rusher and receiver, finishing his career with over 12,000 rushing yards and more than 6,000 receiving yards. In 1999, he became the second running back ever to go over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards, and he recorded a then-NFL record 26 touchdowns in 2000.

The official votersVoters spent considerable time laying out the case for Faulk even though there seemed to be little doubt about his status as a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer. Faulk had no significant weaknesses. He could run for speed or power.

On the other hand, Cortez Kennedy was not that good but he got the job done for the Seattle Seahawks during his 11-year NFL career. In eight of those years, Kennedy made the Pro Bowl while also being named a first-team All-Pro three years and a second-teamer two years. Yet Kennedy fell short for the third-straight year when the NFL Hall of Fame announced its class of 2011 on Saturday, a victim of a loaded crop of skill players.

Perhaps, Deion Sanders was considered as the most dominant cover cornerback of his generation, and perhaps all time, offered more than just stellar play in the secondary. Sanders averaged more than 15 yards every time he got his hands on the football. He scored five different ways during the regular season. Sanders made his only season with the 49ers a memorable one, helping San Francisco win the Super Bowl after the 1994 season.

The list of NFL Hall of Fame 2011 inductees will be announced later tonight. Faulk and Sanders are considered as the top candidates most likely to be inducted in the said event. Find out more by tuning here regularly to get the latest updates with regards to the 2011 Class of NFL Hall of Fame.

Terrible Towels will wave again at the Super Bowl, where the Steelers will meet Green Bay after silencing Rex Ryan’s wild bunch. Look out Big D, here comes another Big D—in black and gold, and with an unmatched history of carrying off the Lombardi Trophy.

And here comes a quarterback with a history of winning the big ones.

“Shoot, any time you get to the Super Bowl, it feels good,” he said. “I don’t care what you’re going through or what’s going on. We put a lot of stuff behind us early and found a way.”

They clearly found a way to shut down the Jets’ season, ending it the way it started—with hard knocks. And not the kind on HBO.

The Steelers (14-4) will challenge the Packers, who are 2 1/2 -point favorites, with a versatile attack led by their quarterback and running back Rashard Mendenhall(notes).

And with a defense, led by James Harrison(notes), that had a fumble return for a touchdown and a goal-line stand that shut down the Jets’ comeback in the fourth quarter. It will certainly test Aaron Rodgers(notes) in the title game in Dallas on Feb. 6.

That smothering defense set the tone for most of a frigid night at Heinz Field to end the Jets’ stunning postseason run. Ryan slammed down his headset when Antonio Brown(notes) caught a pass for a first down that allowed Pittsburgh to hang on and run out the clock.

“It’s not always pretty with us,” Roethlisberger said, “but we do the job. We have a lot of tenacity. We have a don’t quit attitude and mentality. Everybody is just always there for each other.”

The Steelers ended the Jets’ season with a dominant first half for a 24-3 lead. Mendenhall had 95 of his 121 yards and a touchdown.

“We played a good half. We never played a good game, and that was the difference,” Ryan said in a postgame interview with CBS. “You get to this point, you’ve got to play a great game against a great opponent and we played a good half and that was it.”

One more great game by Roethlisberger and his teammates and the season will end in a way hardly anyone could foresee back in September.

He sat out the season’s first four games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy—an outgrowth of a college student’s accusations that he sexually assaulted her in Georgia last March. The quarterback was never prosecuted over what was the second such set of allegations against him.

Now he will lead the Steelers into their eighth Super Bowl, a game they handle pretty well—and have a record six titles to show for it.

The cocky Jets seemed to have left everything they had in New England last Sunday. There was little trash talking all week and even less fire early in their biggest game since winning the championship 42 years ago. They haven’t been back to the Super Bowl.

The Steelers are regulars, including Super Bowl titles for the 2005 and 2008 teams, both led by Roethlisberger and a fierce defense sparked by playmaking safety Troy Polamalu(notes).

Polamalu, his long hair flowing from under his helmet, didn’t have to do a whole lot this time. Not with the way his teammates whipped the Jets at the line of scrimmage before a spirited New York surge in the second half.

“We overcame a lot more obstacles this year than we have in the past,” Polamalu said. “But we still got one more to go. “

And too often, New York’s defense was like a swinging gate that Roethlisberger and Mendenhall ran through with ease.

New York (13-6) failed for the fourth time in the AFC title game since 1969, when the Jets won perhaps the most significant of all Super Bowls. It was a devastating finish, particularly after the Jets beat Peyton Manning(notes) and the Colts, then Tom Brady(notes) and the Patriots on the road to get to Pittsburgh. CONTINUE READING...

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Once a week or so, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers strolls into Cheese Cake Heaven, a delicatessen and bakery near Lambeau Field popular with Packers players and their wives. Deb Katers, who works the register at lunchtime, said Rodgers often chose the build-your-own sandwich option — “a turkey avocado kind of thing,” she said — and exchanged playful banter with the counter staff.

“He’s a teaser, in a quiet, professional way,” Katers said before the lunch rush last week. “He’s a very quiet, good-hearted guy.

“He’s just a really normal person. If you didn’t know he was the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, you’d think he was an ordinary guy.”

After two spectacular postseason performances, Rodgers finds himself in the most important game of his career as the Packers face the Chicago Bears in the N.F.C. championship game Sunday.

“He’s definitely the quarterback we all hoped he would become,” Packers Coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s playing his best football of his career at this point, and that’s what you want, especially this time of year.”

Those who have known Rodgers for years say fame has not changed him. Craig Rigsbee, his coach at Butte College, a community college in Oroville, Calif., said Rodgers was still the same low-key yet driven player who made himself a successful quarterback despite being lightly recruited out of Pleasant Valley High in Chico. Rodgers seems to handle pressure and expectations with the ease of, well, somebody ordering lunch. That, Rigsbee said, enables Rodgers to maneuver through difficult situations that might unnerve someone less grounded.

Take draft night 2005. Some experts predicted the San Francisco 49ers might take Rodgers, who played at California, as the No. 1 pick, a thrilling possibility for someone who grew up idolizing Joe Montana. The 49ers chose Alex Smith instead. Rodgers sat uncomfortably in the broadcast green room until the Packers took him at No. 24.

Or take the notion that Rodgers, despite being the first N.F.L. quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in his first two years as a starter, could not be considered an elite quarterback until he won a playoff game.

All last week, Rodgers deflected attempts to compare him to past or present greats. “Let’s slow down and take it easy on the comparisons until we get some hardware around here,” he said. CONTINUE READING

January 16, 2011

CHICAGO -- Jay Cutler ran for two touchdowns, threw for two more, and the Chicago defense manhandled Seattle early for a 35-24 victory Sunday, lifting the Bears into the NFC Championship Game against their archrivals, the Green Bay Packers.

The Bears (12-5), who edged the Packers for the NFC North title, will host the title game next Sunday -- their first meeting in the postseason since 1941. Chicago leads the NFL's longest series 92-83-6, and each team won at home this season.

On Sunday, they proved that they weren't all talk -- trash talk -- after all.

Now Rex Ryan's rowdy bunch is headed to its second straight AFC Championship Game after New York backed up its coach's boasts with a 28-21 win Sunday over the New England Patriots -- the team with the best record in the NFL.

Mark Sanchez threw three touchdown passes and the Jets sacked Tom Brady five times in the most-hyped of the weekend's four postseason games following a week of verbal potshots from both teams.

"Maybe everybody else never believed, but we believed," Ryan said. "We're moving on. Same old Jets, back to the AFC championship. The only difference is this time we plan on winning."

In the end, Ryan was true to his exuberant self. He ran down the sideline and celebrated with his players after Greene's 16-yard score with 1:41 left. And, when the game was over, Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards did a backflip.

"We don't care what people say or whether they like us," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We just focus on what we need to do to win games."

New York led its fierce rival, 14-3, at halftime before Brady's 2-yard touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler and Sammy Morris' run for a two-point conversion made it 14-11 late in the third quarter. But Sanchez came right back with a 7-yard scoring pass to Santonio Holmes, and New York finished the upset with Greene's touchdown.

The Jets (13-5) kept Ryan's prediction of a Super Bowl appearance alive. The Patriots (14-3) lost their third straight postseason game.

They lost last season to Indianapolis, 30-17, but now have another chance for their first Super Bowl berth since 1969, when another loudmouth, "Broadway Joe" Namath, backed up his guarantee with a 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts.

Ryan has said many times that the Jets are a Super Bowl-caliber team, and he has irritated fans, opposing players and media with his bold remarks. Last week he called the a contest between him and Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Then, after Antonio Cromartie called Brady an expletive Tuesday, Ryan said he wouldn't punish his cornerback.

The wide receiver was benched for the Patriots' first series for subtle remarks apparently directed at Ryan. Welker made several references to feet in his news conference Thursday, interpreted by some as a dig at recent foot-fetish reports involving Ryan.

"I didn't think anything about it. I'm just waiting for the opportunity to go out and play," Welker said. "I respect the New York Jets. I respect Rex Ryan."

Belichick refused to comment on why Welker missed the first series.

When the game ended, Belichick walked slowly to midfield where he met Ryan, patted his conqueror on the back with his left hand and shared some words.

"I'm not embarrassed. I'm just frustrated," said Deion Branch, who scored the game's last touchdown on a 13-yard pass with 24 seconds remaining. "The embarrassing part came from a few classless (Jets) guys after the game. There were a lot of classless things that went on after the game ended."

Such as?

"Didn't you see it?" he said. "You've got to go back and watch it. Pretty classless stuff."

Sanchez completed 16 of 25 passes for 194 yards and touchdowns to LaDainian Tomlinson, Edwards and Holmes. Brady, who played poorly for his second straight postseason game, was 29 for 45 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

"Our expectations this season were very high," Brady said. "Playoff football comes, and really it comes down, to who makes the plays, and we made too many mistakes."

Now Sanchez looks to beat another of the NFL's best quarterbacks -- Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger -- after knocking off Peyton Manning, who won the NFL's last two MVP awards, and Brady, who is a favorite to win his second in four years.

"He's just now getting better and better and better," Ryan said.

He wasn't very good on Dec. 6 when the Patriots routed the Jets, 45-3. That didn't matter Sunday.

"We don't try to look back and try to fight history," receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. "We play in that moment. That's what it was all about today -- making today our day. "

January 09, 2011

The Seattle Seahawks beat the New Orleans Saints on Saturday to advance in the 2011 NFL Playoffs. With the Seattle Seahawks winning their first 2011 NFL Playoff game, it sends them on to play either the Atlanta Falcons or the Chicago Bears in the second round. That opponent will be determined by the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Green Bay Packers game on Sunday.

Seattle controlled the game on Saturday in nearly every regard, coming back from an early 10-point deficit to take the lead and never look back. Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, back in the starting lineup after missing the season finale against the St. Louis Rams, threw for 272 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Marshawn Lynch added another 131 yards on the ground, breaking off for a 67-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to sew up the game.

Seattle ended up beating New Orleans 41-36, proving just around every NFL analyst in the country wrong. The team that wasn't given much of a chance at winning this game has just beaten the defending Super Bowl champions, and will now finish in the top eight teams for the 2011 NFL Playoffs. If Philadelphia wins their game over Green Bay, Seattle will play Atlanta, and if Green Bay wins, Seattle will play in Chicago next week. Now Seahawks fans wait to find out which obstacle will be the next one before a possible spot in the 2011 NFC Championship Game.

What did you think of the Seattle vs. New Orleans game? Do you think the Seahawks are for real now? Can they beat the Falcons or Bears next week?

New York (12-5) now heads to New England for a third meeting with the Patriots next Sunday.

The Colts (11-6), AFC champions last year over the Jets, believed they had won the game when Adam Vinatieri made a 50-yard field goal, his longest kick since 2008, with 53 seconds left.

But the Jets got a 47-yard kickoff return from Antonio Cromartie, and Mark Sanchez set up Folk's field goal with an 18-yard pass to Braylon Edwards at the Colts' 14. New York called timeout with 3 seconds to go, and Folk hit the winner.

New York's LaDainian Tomlinson rushed 16 times for 82 yards and scored two touchdowns, both on 1-yard runs.

Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning was 18-of-26 passing for 225 yards and one touchdown.

The Chiefs (10-7), who won the AFC West with a six-game improvement and took pride in not beating themselves, managed just 25 yards in the second half.

"To set records is one thing," said Lewis, who forced a fumble and had a sack in the second-half dismantling of the Chiefs. "To come out and play the way we've played in the third quarter all year and the last two weeks, just giving up seven points to opponents, that's championship-caliber football."

Baltimore (13-4) broke open a close game with a touchdown and two field goals off turnovers in the second half. Joe Flacco threw two touchdown passes, Billy Cundiff kicked three field goals and Willis McGahee closed out the scoring with a 25-yard run in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens will head to Pittsburgh next Saturday, renewing one of the league's fiercest rivalries. They split their season series with the Steelers, with each team winning on the other's home field.

Kansas City finishes the season saddled with an NFL-record seventh straight playoff loss, dating back 17 years.

"Our defense played phenomenal," Ravens running back Ray Rice said. "They came out in the second half and gutted that offense. It was impressive. It's impressive to be a part of this."

On a raw, windy afternoon, with temperatures hovering in the low 20s, Flacco and Cundiff took advantage of three interceptions by Cassel and fumbles by Dexter McCluster and Jamal Charles to pull away. Pro Bowlers Lewis and safety Ed Reed led the charge.

PHILADELPHIA — Lovers of bone-crunching defensive football, the AFC has just the game for you: Ravens-Steelers III.

The NFC has a juicy one upcoming, too: surging Green Bay at Atlanta.

The Packers discovered a running game Sunday in beating the Eagles 21-16, the third road victory during wild-card weekend. Shockingly, the only home winner was Seattle, which beat defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans on Saturday.

All four games next weekend are rematches: the Jets are at New England in the AFC, the Seahawks at Chicago in the NFC.

Aaron Rodgers threw for three scores and sixth-round draftee James Starks, who had 101 yards rushing during the regular season, powered through NFC East champ Philadelphia for 123 yards.

"It was huge the way James ran the ball, maybe the most important factor in our win," said Rodgers, who got his first playoff victory in his third season as a starter — after sitting behind Brett Favre for three years.

Earlier, Baltimore set up what figures to be a crunching third meeting with AFC North rival Pittsburgh when it beat the Kansas City Chiefs 30-7. Baltimore and Pittsburgh finished tied atop the division at 12-4, with the Steelers holding the tiebreaker and getting a bye.

They split two smashmouth games during the season, with the Ravens winning 17-14 at Pittsburgh in Week 4, the last game of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's suspension. The Steelers took the rematch in one of 2010's showcase games, a 13-10 outcome that turned on safety Troy Polamalu's sensational forced fumble.

A veteran playoff team that has won four of its last five postseason road games, the Ravens completely shut down AFC West champion Kansas City's passing game and forced five turnovers. They won't be intimidated in the least by a trip to Heinz Field next Saturday.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," said Joe Flacco, who threw for two touchdowns. "This is going to be the second time in my career that we've played them three times in a season. And those games are always a lot of fun. We're going to go up there and give it our best."

The Chiefs have lost seven straight postseason games, a league record that dates back to the 1993 season.

"We turned the ball over and that's not characteristic of us," Pro Bowl left guard Brian Waters said. "When we had to make plays, we weren't able to. When they had to make plays, they did. You can't turn the ball over."

On Saturday, Seattle became the first team with a losing record to win a playoff game when it stunned New Orleans 41-36 behind four TD passes by Matt Hasselbeck. The Seahawks (8-9) visit Chicago (11-5) next Sunday; Seattle won at Soldier Field 23-20 on Oct. 17.

Green Bay, the sixth seed in the NFC, heads to top-seeded Atlanta (13-3), where it lost 20-17 in November.

In the AFC, the New York Jets improved to 3-1 in road playoff games under bombastic coach Rex Ryan by edging Indianapolis 17-16 on Nick Folk's 32-yard field goal as time expired.

Those results sent both of last February's Super Bowl teams out on the first day of the postseason.

The Jets (12-5) are at New England (14-2) next Sunday. The last time they met, the Patriots won 45-3 in a prime-time romp. In Week 2, though, the Jets won 28-14.

That December rout remains firmly in the Jets' memories.

"We've been wanting the Patriots for a while now," tight end Dustin Keller said. "Ever since that game."

Packers 21, Eagles 16

Rodgers had TD passes of 7 yards to Tom Crabtree, 9 to James Jones and 16 to Brandon Jackson, who used a convoy of blockers on a screen pass for the winning points midway in the third quarter.

Then Green Bay (11-6) held on as Michael Vick brought Philadelphia (10-7) close, but was intercepted in the end zone by Tramon Williams in the final seconds. The Packers have won three in a row; the Eagles finished with three straight defeats.

"We have a lot of resilient guys in this locker room," Rodgers said, noting that Green Bay lost 15 players to injured reserve this season. "We have guys who believe in each other, a lot of guys we might not expect a lot from who step up, like James Starks tonight."

Green Bay began the 2010 season with a win at the Linc and ended the Eagles' season with another one Sunday.

"They have a great team over there, and they play fast," Michael Vick said after his sensational comeback season ended. "We set ourselves back. We did some things out there, still, but we just didn't do enough."

Ravens 30, Chiefs 7

Billy Cundiff kicked three field goals to support Flacco, but it was the savvy defense that dominated, as it often does for Baltimore (13-4). The Ravens led 10-7 in the third quarter when they stopped Kansas City on fourth-and-inches. Baltimore got a field goal out of that, then another after Ray Lewis forced a fumble by rookie Dexter McCluster.

Dawan Landry's interception moments later led to Anquan Boldin's 4-yard TD reception for a 23-7 lead, and the Chiefs (10-7) were headed for that unenviable NFL record. Their last playoff victory came with Joe Montana as their quarterback.

Ravens safety Ed Reed sparked the defense even as he and his family were dealing with the disappearance of his brother, Brian, who jumped into the Mississippi River as he ran from police in Louisiana.

April 22, 2010

In the days leading up to the N.F.L. draft, the top prospects were unsettled by
just how uncertain their futures were. With the presumed No. 1 choice —
quarterback Sam Bradford — without a completed contract and trade
speculation buzzing from Oakland to Pittsburgh, the players made their
way through the pre-draft festivities with tight smiles and crossed
fingers.

Tim Tebow,
the Florida star who had spent the past few months remaking his throwing
motion and trying to convince coaches that he could play quarterback in
the N.F.L., avoided the entire scene, staying home in Jacksonville,
Fla., with his family.

His fortunes had captivated the run-up to the draft, dividing pundits as
few players have before. Would his sterling character and will
captivate a coach enough to take on a project in the first round or was
Tebow a player begging for a position switch who would tumble down the
board?

In the end, neither Bradford nor Tebow had to worry. They both aced
their pro days several weeks ago, Bradford proving that his repaired
right shoulder was healthy, Tebow that his mechanics were improving.

And on Thursday night, each of them was a first-round pick, Bradford
the top selection, as expected, by the St. Louis Rams and Tebow to the Denver Broncos with the 25th pick in the biggest
surprise of the first round.

The Broncos were the most active team of the first round, trading four
times — two back, and two up — and Coach Josh McDaniels showed a
continued brio in his job. Since he became the Broncos’ coach last year,
he has traded Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, and acquired Brady
Quinn. And now he has taken on a player who came personally recommended
by Florida Coach Urban Meyer, whom McDaniels has known since he was a
child.CONTINUE READING...

February 09, 2010

"Our spirits are lifted," said Peggy
Fuselier, one of thousands of people who lined Veterans Memorial
Boulevard outside the international airport to cheer their champions.
"It's the greatest thing that could ever happen to this city." To
many, the Saints brought a shot at redemption and deliverance from the
terrors of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans
and killed 1,500 people when it came ashore 4 1/2 years ago.

New
Orleans still has problems to address -- mainly the highest murder rate
per capita of any U.S. city and vast stretches of houses that are still
unfit for habitation due to flood damage.

But
after a halting recovery from Katrina, the Saints offer New Orleans a
chance to close a grim chapter in its history and embrace the spirit of
a winner.

The Saints, formed in
1967, for decades were one of the worst teams in the National Football
League, derisively called "The Aint's." The team's transformation to a
high-scoring powerhouse has brought fans to near-religious dedication.

As
a testament to that fervor, the front page of the Times-Picayune, the
hometown newspaper, was dominated by the giant headline: "Amen!"

Interest in the team is not limited to New Orleans.

Sunday's
audience of 106.5 million people set a new record for Super Bowl
viewers and made the game the most watched U.S. telecast ever,
according to early ratings on Monday.

Once
the Saints had secured their 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts
in Miami on Sunday night, joy and celebration swept over the city's
cobble-stone French Quarter.

"When
you watch people sit and cry because a football team won, that says is
all," said Charlie Martinez, general manager of Bourbon Vieux, a
restaurant on Bourbon Street.

Along
with a championship team, New Orleans has a new mayor in Mitch
Landrieu, who won election on Saturday by a wide margin. Landrieu, the
city's first white mayor in more than 30 years, pledged to bridge
racial divides that have grown under Ray Nagin, the current mayor.

The
Saints give also New Orleans another reason to throw a world-class
party. The victory parade is scheduled for Tuesday and will start in
front of the Louisiana Superdome.

"I
wouldn't trade these memories for all the doubloons in Mardi Gras,"
said Robert Peri, who said he spent Sunday night on the balcony of his
French Quarter hotel, playing "When the Saints Come Marching In" on his
coronet.

February 07, 2010

Miami Gardens, Fla. -- The New Orleans Saints have won Super Bowl XLIV.

They beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 here at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees was 32-of-39 for 288 yards and two touchdowns.

But it was the big 75-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Tracy Porter that sealed the deal.

"I studied and knew their tendencies," Porter said. "I just jumped around and the ball went right into my hands."

Porter's teammate Darren Sharper, who was on the Green Bay Packers
as a rookie when they lost to Denver, said this was a game that nobody
had faith in the team except for the team.

"Man this is unbelievable," Sharper said. "I don't know of anyone who gave us a chance, but when you get here, anyone can win."

Saints receiver Marques Colston was philosophical.

"We did this for the city of New Orleans," Colston said.

Owner Tom Benson said when given the trophy that "New Orleans is
back." When asked about his coach Sean Payton, Benson said, "I might
kiss him."

Quarterback Drew Brees was named MVP.

Here are the in-game updates:

0:27 4Q: It's not over officially. But it's over.

The Indianapolis Colts missed on a fourth-and-goal on the 3-yard line and the Saints took over on downs, leading 31-17.

Jabari Greer almost had an inerception in the end zone, but he had
one foot out of bounds. The Colts Pierre Garcon was called for
offensive pass interference on the play to back up the Colts to the 13.

But Manning hit Joseph Addai for 10 yards to get them back within range.

Manning hit Austin Collie for a 47-yard pass that was perfectly
thrown where Darren Sharper couldn't get to it that really kicked in
the drive.

January 24, 2010

NEW ORLEANS — For once, Brett Favre looked his age after the Minnesota Vikings’ loss Sunday in the National Football Conference championship game. After being battered by the New Orleans Saints in the 31-28 overtime defeat, the 40-year-old Favre struggled to dress in the locker room. He winced as he put a tennis shoe on his left ankle, which was injured
in the third quarter when he was high hit by Saints defensive tackle
Remi Ayodele and low by defensive end Bobby McCray. But Favre had a
question for nearby reporters about the hit: “Did it look bad?” Told by one reporter that it looked terrible, Favre acknowledged that he thought he had broken his ankle. “I can’t even move,” Favre said, adding that he felt 49 years old. But
in typical Favre fashion, he stayed in the game, only to throw a costly
interception near the end of regulation with his team close to
field-goal range. Before the third-and-15 play from the New Orleans 38,
Minnesota was flagged for a 5-yard penalty for having 12 players in the
huddle. The penalty moved the Vikings out of field-goal range. The
play was supposed to go to Minnesota wide receiver Bernard Berrian in
the flat, but the Saints changed their coverage. So instead Favre made
a late throw to Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice that was intercepted
by New Orleans cornerback Tracy Porter at the New Orleans 22-yard line
with about 19 seconds left. Instead of throwing the ball, Favre
said he should have run. He did not get a chance to redeem himself
because Minnesota did not get the ball in overtime. CONTINUE READING...

With the largest home crowd in Indianapolis Colts
history on its feet, counting it down, 3 . . . 2 . . . 1, and the
glitter guns along the sidelines about to fill the air with blue and
white sparkles, coach Jim Caldwell stood in front of the Colts bench,
shoulder to shoulder with quarterback Peyton Manning.If you had the run of the house Sunday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium, where else would you want to be?

"He
performs best in the most difficult situations," Caldwell said of
Manning after the glitter had settled on the Colts' 30-17 AFC
Championship Game victory against the New York Jets. "We faced as fine a defense as we've faced all year and he takes his game to different level."

Wow. Manning completed 26-of-39 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against the NFL's No. 1
defense. He brought the Colts (16-2) back from an 11-point deficit. The
league's only four-time Most Valuable Player strutted his stuff.

His next opportunity will come Feb. 7 in Super Bowl XLIV.
The Colts are going back to Miami, back to Sun Life Stadium, where they
won Super Bowl XLI following the 2006 season, this time to meet the New
Orleans Saints, who beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime Sunday
night in the NFC Championship Game.

Sunday,
when three mistakes put the Colts down 17-6 with two minutes to play in
the first half, Manning flashed back to that 2006 season.

"It really reminded me of our championship game against New England," he said.

The Colts trailed 21-3 late in the first half that day. They came back to win 38-34.

This
time, through the guts of the game, with the crowd of 67,650 roaring
and the Jets reeling, the Colts had five possessions and scored on
four. Manning was 17-of-23 for 236 yards and three touchdowns on those
four series. CONTINUE READING...

Rookies Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene led New
York to a stunning 17-14 upset of San Diego in the divisional playoffs
Sunday, each providing a touchdown in the fourth quarter that marked
another Chargers postseason pratfall.

Sanchez threw a go-ahead, 2-yard touchdown pass
to tight end Dustin Keller three plays into the fourth quarter, then
Greene gave the Jets some breathing room with a 53-yard scoring run on
their next possession.

The upstart Jets (11-7), who have won seven of
their last eight, advanced to the AFC championship game for the first
time since 1999. They'll play at top-seeded Indianapolis next Sunday.

Of course, it was the Colts who pulled Peyton Manning
and other starters in the second half of their Week 16 game against the
Jets, who rallied for a victory that put them in control of their
playoff destiny.

Before that game, Ryan said his holiday wish was for the Colts to rest Manning & Co.

"I don't know if Santa Claus will be that good
to me again," Ryan said. "But I will say that I'd like to see Peyton
Manning play this week."

After the Jets finally did clinch a playoff spot
by routing Cincinnati the following week, Ryan, their rookie head
coach, created a postseason itinerary for his players that included the
Super Bowl in Miami followed by a parade two days later. CONTINUE READING...

MINNEAPOLIS — Sidney Rice has always shared a last name and a position with one of the best to ever play the game.

Now he shares a record with Jerry Rice, too.

He
had six receptions for 141 yards and tied a playoff record with three
touchdown catches to help the Minnesota Vikings to a 34-3 victory over
the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC divisional playoffs Sunday.

He had
scoring catches of 47, 16 and 45 yards from Brett Favre to help the
Vikings (12-4) earn their first trip to the NFC title game since 2001.

It
was the 15th time in NFL history that a player has hauled in three
touchdown receptions in a game. Jerry still has the edge on Sidney,
though. He did it three times in his brilliant career.

"It feels
good," Sidney Rice said of the record. "But at the same time, I'm just
happy for this team. We came out and fought hard, all three phases. It
was a great team victory for us."

The monster performance was the
culmination of a banner third season for the former second-round pick
out of South Carolina. After a quiet first two years, Rice emerged as
one of the rising young stars in the league. He led the Vikings with 83
catches for 1,312 yards and eight touchdowns to earn his first trip to
the Pro Bowl.

Of course, a certain 40-year-old quarterback has had something to do with that.

Rice
worked harder in the off-season than he ever had before, participating
in a demanding program with Cardinals All-Pro Larry Fitzgerald, former
Vikings great Cris Carter and several of the other top receivers in the
league. Then Favre arrived in August, and the two quickly became a
playmaking tandem.

"With the addition of No. 4, it's been huge
for me," Rice said, referring to Favre. "It's been great for me, and
I'm thankful for that."

As good as Favre has been for Rice, the
reverse also applies. In Rice, Favre has a six-foot-four leaper who
towers over most defensive backs and makes even some of the toughest
catches look routine.

And now that he has learned the art of body
positioning and getting off of press coverage, Rice has solidified
himself as a true No. 1 receiver.

"I've said that from Day 1,
Sidney is that type of player," Favre said. "I hate to compare him or
put him in categories, because I think he is in a category by himself."

He did a little bit of everything Sunday.

Rice
set the tone early when he got behind Dallas safety Gerald Sensabaugh
on a go route and reeled in a perfect throw from Favre for a 47-yard
score to put the Vikings on top in the first quarter. CONTINUE READING..

Joe Flacco (right) and the Ravens were once again outdone by Peyton
Manning (left), the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player, who threw two
touchdowns in the top-seeded Colts' 20-3 win Saturday night in an AFC
divisional playoff game. The sixth-seeded Ravens (10-8) failed to score
a touchdown against Indianapolis for a third straight game and turned
the ball over four times. "Obviously, we're not where we want to be
right now," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "We want to [get to] the
point where we can win the divisional playoff game, we can win the AFC
championship game and we can win the Super Bowl."INDIANAPOLIS -
- Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is causing more heartache for Baltimore fans these days than Bob Irsay. Allowing the four-time NFL
Most Valuable Player to throw two touchdown passes in the final two
minutes of the first half, the Ravens were once again undone by Manning
in a 20-3 loss to the top-seeded Colts in an AFC divisional playoff
game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The sixth-seeded Ravens (10-8) could never seize the momentum from him,
failing to score a touchdown against Indianapolis for a third straight
game and turning the ball over four times (two interceptions and lost
fumbles by Ray Rice and Ed Reed).

The Colts (15-2) stopped their run of abrupt exits in the playoffs as a
high seed - they had been 0-3 after first-round byes - and advanced to
play the winner of today's San Diego Chargers- New York Jets game in next Sunday's AFC championship. By the end of the night, it was another painful reunion with the Colts,
who were moved from Baltimore on March 28, 1984, (9,425 days ago) by
Irsay. "We didn't play well enough to win this game on this day against this team," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. The loss hit Reed so hard that it could be his last. Standing at his
locker after the game, Reed, 31, said it's "50-50" whether he retires.
The Pro Bowl safety has been dealing with a nerve impingement in his neck for two years. He nearly turned the game around twice in the third quarter. But his
first interception ended with him fumbling, and his second one was
negated by Corey Ivy's pass-interference penalty. Manning has beaten the Ravens eight straight times, including twice in the playoffs. He stopped their Super Bowl run in January 2007 despite not having a stellar game. And he did it again Saturday in more Manning-like fashion.

September 2012

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